The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a particle separator and, more particularly, to a particle separator for airflow into a cabin of an aircraft.
In aircraft, airflow from a condenser heat exchanger typically has liquid water particles, or droplets, mixed together with air. It is often desirable for these water droplets or other particles to be collected before the airflow is permitted to proceed toward the occupied cabin. The water droplets can be removed to thereby prevent problems with moisture and humidity in the occupied cabin. Various methods and systems have been proposed to collect and then remove the water droplets. These include forcing the airflow to swirl such that the water droplets travel to an outer wall of the swirler due to centrifugal force. At the outer wall, the water droplets are collected for removal. In current applications, however, air velocities in the inlet ducts of the swirlers are very high. These high velocities lead to large pressure losses.